This homemade vegan butter is easy to spread and tastes a lot like real butter. You can even use it as a vegan butter replacement in baking!
I am SO excited to share this recipe for vegan butter with you.
If you’ve bought vegan butter at the grocery store, then you know how expensive it can be.
The vegan butter I used to buy was delicious – but it cost about $6 for 8oz, which is four times higher than the average price of dairy butter. Even though I have a fairly comfortable income I feel like that price isn’t sustainable for me!
So I decided to work on my own vegan butter recipe at home. I wanted it to function like normal butter as much as possible, but have a little more spreadability like margarine.
And I wanted it to be cheap. Here’s how much this butter cost me to make using the ingredients I had at home:
- 1 1/4 cups coconut @$2.99/30oz = $0.92
- 1/2 cup raw cashews blanched @ $5.09/lb = $0.42
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar ~ roughly $0.02
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil ~ roughly $0.02
- 1 tsp lecithin powder @ $9.18/lb = $0.15
- water & salt, let’s say they add another $0.02
Total cost to make a pound of vegan butter at home? about $1.65!
How To Make Vegan Butter
To make this vegan butter recipe, you’ll need a blender. We need to get the raw cashews completely incorporated into the liquids so that there are no lumps, and this can be done easily in a blender.
Coconut oil is the main ingredient in the butter – make sure you’re using refined coconut oil. I occasionally find good deals on coconut oil in the “reduced price” section of the grocery store, but the best price I find is at my local bulk foods store.
I use soy lecithin powder to emulsify the water, cashew solids, and oil. Soy lecithin is an emulsifier made by mixing soybean oil and hot water and spinning the mixture to in a centrifuge to extract the lecithin (source). You can leave it out, but the butter may separate in the fridge. If you avoid soy you can also use sunflower lecithin.
You can find soy lecithin powder on Amazon. I recommend checking your local shops that sell baking supplies as you may be able to find it for about half the price. A little goes a long way! 😉
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup raw cashews blanched
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp salt use 1 tsp for salted butter
- 1 tsp lecithin powder
Instructions
- Melt the coconut oil in the microwave until it's all liquid, and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
- To blanch the cashews, pour boiling water over them and let them rest for about 20 seconds, then drain the water.
- Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend for about 45 seconds, stopping halfway to scrape down the sides. Taste it now and if you want to add more salt you can.
- Pour the vegan butter into a dish with a lid and chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
- Take it out of the freezer and use a butter knife to gently mix the solidified parts into the parts that are still liquid. If you do this for a minute it will all become creamy and soft with a butter-like consistency.
- Store your butter in the fridge for up to 1 month. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.
